Susan Collins: “This provision conditions the release of reconstruction funds to progress on the benchmarks that are included in the…”

“This provision conditions the release of reconstruction funds to progress on the benchmarks that are included in the Warner-Collins amendment. These benchmarks include making progress on debaathification, making progress in passing and implementing an oil revenues distribution bill, making progress and producing trained and equipped Iraqi security forces, and overall for the Iraqi Government to make more progress toward the political reconciliation that is absolutely essential to quelling the sectarian violence that now engulfs Baghdad. It includes, therefore, provisions and benchmarks not only on debaathification but also on holding provincial elections, something that would help lead to the integration of more Sunnis into the Government power structures.”